Bloomberg
August 2, 2018
China said that the latest threat by the U.S. to increase tariffs won’t succeed in forcing concessions from Beijing.
“China is fully prepared and will have to retaliate to defend the nation’s dignity and the interests of the people, defend free trade and the multilateral system, and defend the common interests of all countries,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Thursday on its website. The “carrot-and-stick” tactic won’t work, it said.
The Trump administration said Wednesday that it’s considering increasing the proposed tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent, in a bid to force China back to the negotiating table. President Donald Trump has asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider hiking the duties, which could be implemented as early as next month.
China’s yuan extended loss following Mofcom’s comments, signaling investor concern that the trade war is escalating. The onshore currencytumbled 0.35 percent to 6.8494 per dollar, the lowest level in more than a year, as of 5:58 p.m. in Shanghai. The offshore rate lost 0.58 percent. Earlier, shares in Asia fell.
This article was posted: Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 8:13 am
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